Black Tusk – Tons of fun. Their performance quality is stellar for a 3-person band. They were a great opener.Swords of Lightning – Dang. Decent. Very decent. I would totally see them again. They sounded great, though I could have preferred a little more action on stage.Acrassicauda – I have the same feeling as Maiden. Their set was fun and all, but not that impressive.Ludicra – Wow. I am officially a huge Ludicra fan now. Frontwoman Laurie never stops throwing herself around like a crazy woman… even when she gets brained with a guitar head and blood starts streaming into her eye. The rest of the band plays beautifully. Off stage, they also turn out to be the nicest, most accommodating band in the world… even when the fan they’re talking to is very, very star struck.Absu – Definitely the performance of the night. They had it all – talent, timing, brutality, performance, killer set… I couldn’t have asked for more.

Acquired:
Guitar picks from both Ludicra and Absu
Absu T-shirt for $10
A new appreciation for basement gigs (yeah Bernie's!)
The knowledge that Natty has no sense of direction

@ Brad, I checked the notes I took on my Blackberry, and your set lists for Struck by Lightning and Pelican are both correct (but you knew that already ). I'm 100% certain that was Embedding the Moss and not Bliss in Concrete in the second-to-last slot for Pelican.

Angela Gossow may be a hell of a vocalist (and pretty easy on the eyes), and Julie Christmas may just be straight up fucking crazy, but neither of those chicks has a thing on Grace Perry from Landmine Marathon. This woman can belt out the death metal / grindcore screams like no other. She is a serious badass, and so is the rest of the band. Their riffs are heavy and catchy, like something from one of the more recent Bolt Thrower albums. If you've never seen these cats live, DO IT. They will be touring soon for their new album which drops Tuesday (they were selling it at this show, and you bet your ass I bought it), so watch your radar screens and do yourselves a favor. See Landmine Marathon.

Holy shit, do these guys still have it. My cousin saw them at Peabody's last Wednesday, and called me the next day to tell me that if I missed them he would have to kill me. Chyck told me something similar when I met her at the beginning of the day. I went. They kicked ass. I shouted my damn fool head off, headbanged, fist-pumped and got the t-shirt (Nothingface album cover for a cool twenty-spot ). Awesome.

Cannibal Corpse
Scalding Hail
Unleashing the Bloodthirsty
Murder Worship
Sentenced to Burn
I Cum Blood
Fucked With a Knife
Shatter Their Bones
Make Them Suffer
Pit of Zombies
Vomit the Soul
Priests of Sodom
A Skull Full of Maggots
Hammer Smashed Face
Stripped, Raped and Strangled

I've always known these guys were (are) heavy as fuck, but I was always kinda lukewarm on seeing them live. I figured I'd get around to it someday. Yesterday was finally that day. I'm sorry I waited. Holy fucking shitballs are these guys awesome live...fast, tight and most definitely LOUD . Also, their frontman is one of the most awesomely obnoxious dudes at the helm of any death metal band today. Best line of the festival, by far, was: "This song is about SHOOTING BLOOD FROM YOUR COCK!!!" (intro to "I Cum Blood"). No true brutal death metal fan could see these guys live and be left wanting for anything. They bring it all.

Oh, and the main riff in "Hammer Smashed Face" is one of the quintessential awesome things in all of metal. There are very few things in this world that are better than that. Holy shit. There's one more thing that's not gonna have to go on my "bucket list", if I ever make one.

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@ Lynne, Brad, Cameron: It was really nice to meet all you guys, and I regret the crossed wires at the end of the night as well. I'm blaming it on the dingbat chick I spoke to on the phone at the Waffle House, though - she told me to go north from Columbus to get to I-70 West, and judging by the uncertainty I could hear in her voice, I knew I should have looked at a map or just done the opposite of what she said.

I'm seriously considering returning to the Cbus on April 3 for either Clutch at the Newport or High on Fire/Black Cobra/Priestess/Bison B.C. at Skully's. Let me know if any of you hoodlums is up for one of those gigs.